Giant tarpaulin 'could save Kilimanjaro's ice cap'

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A Zimbabwean scientist has proposed a novel way to slow down the melting of Mount Kilimanjaro's ice cap — by covering it with a giant tarpaulin.

As well as being one of Tanzania's top tourist attractions and a national symbol, the ice cap, which was gradually deposited over millennia, records the history of East Africa's climate. At current rates of melting, the peak will be bare rock by 2020.

According to climatologist and Zimbabwe native Euan Nisbet of London's Royal Holloway University, the simplest solution would be to hang a white drape over the ice to reflect sunlight and reduce wind. But other scientists are sceptical that the tarpaulin would reduce melting, and argue that resources might be better spent on collecting more ice cores.